One of the horror genre's "most widely read critics" (Rue Morgue # 68), "an accomplished film journalist" (Comic Buyer's Guide #1535), and the award-winning author of Horror Films of the 1980s (2007), The Rock and Roll Film Encyclopedia (2007) and Horror Films of the 1970s (2002), John Kenneth Muir, presents his blog on film, television and nostalgia, named one of the Top 100 Film Studies Blog on the Net.

Friday, January 13, 2006

Hey everybody, yours truly is back in The New York Daily News on this happy Friday the 13th! Lookie-lookie!

Journalist Joe Neumaier, feature writer at the Daily News and film expert himself,presents an article entitled "Return of the Living Dread", which examines the latest horror trend; the new crop of 1970s-like "savage" cinema horror movies suddenly finding mainstream popularity in the 21st century (titles like Hostel, HIgh Tension, Wolf Creek, The Devil's Rejects, etc.)

Anyway, here's a sample of the piece. Go check out the full article. It's good:

The trend started with the remake of "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" in 2003, which had a $28 million debut. It continues this spring with a remake of "The Hills Have Eyes" (which is eyeballing an NC-17 rating for excessive violence) and an intense thriller called "Hard Candy," which, like "Hostel," has a fascination with surgical instruments.

It's a long way from the '80s heydays of Jason in "Friday the 13th" and Freddy Krueger in "A Nightmare on Elm Street."

"What happened is that the slasher films of the early 1980s eventually became self-parody, and weren't scaring anyone anymore," says John Kenneth Muir, author of "Horror Films of the 1970s" and "Eaten Alive at a Chainsaw Massacre: The Films of Tobe Hooper."

2 comments:

i'm a healthily pretentious film snob, and i believe that a thriving offensive and effective horror market is neccesary to having a good international state of films overall. take the sixties and seventies, a golden age for international films and then the new hollywood revolution. at the same time, we had hg lewis and george romero redifining the rules of horror as well as the debuts of carpenter, hooper, and cronenberg.in this age of every known horror title getting a pg13 remake, it can only be a good thing that a successful wave of hard r/nc17 horror movies is surfacing.

About John

award-winning author of 27 books including Horror Films FAQ (2013), Horror Films of the 1990s (2011), Horror Films of the 1980s (2007), TV Year (2007), The Rock and Roll Film Encyclopedia (2007), Mercy in Her Eyes: The Films of Mira Nair (2006),, Best in Show: The Films of Christopher Guest and Company (2004), The Unseen Force: The Films of Sam Raimi (2004), An Askew View: The Films of Kevin Smith (2002), The Encyclopedia of Superheroes on Film & Television (2004), Exploring Space:1999 (1997), An Analytical Guide to TV's Battlestar Galactica (1998), Terror Television (2001), Space:1999 - The Forsaken (2003) and Horror Films of the 1970s (2002).

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What the Critics Say...

"...some of the best writing about the genre has been done by John Kenneth Muir. I am particularly grateful to him for the time and attention he's paid to things others have overlooked, under-appreciated and often written off. His is a fan's perspective first, but with a critic's eye to theme and underscore, to influence and pastiche..." - Chris Carter, creator of The X-Files, in the foreword to Horror Films FAQ (October 2013).

"Hands down, John Kenneth Muir is one of the finest critics and writers working today. His deep analysis of contemporary American culture is always illuminating and insightful. John's film writing and criticism is outstanding and a great place to start for any budding writer, but one should also examine his work on comic books, TV, and music. His weighty catalog of books and essays combined with his significant blog production places him at the top of pop culture writers. Johns work is essential in understanding the centrality of culture in modern society." - Professor Bob Batchelor, cultural historian and Executive Director of the James Pedas Communication Center at Thiel College (2014).

"...an independent film scholar, [Muir] explains film studies concepts in a language that is reader-friendly and engaging..." (The Hindu, 2007)"...Muir's genius lies in his giving context to the films..." (Choice, 2007)